New laws to help prevent young people from accessing dangerous knives online are set to be introduced into law in order to tackle knife crime across the country. The government has announced stricter rules for online retailers will be introduced, including forcing retailers to report any bulk or suspicious purchases of knives and stronger sentencing for those selling weapons to under 18s.
Retailers will be required to report “any bulk or suspicious-looking purchases of knives” on their platforms to police, with the aim of preventing illegal resales of dangerous knives. This comes after the Prime Minister promised action to stop “shockingly easy” access for young people to buy knives in January.
The sentence for selling weapons to under 18s will be increased from six months to up to two years in prison. This could apply to an individual who has processed the sale or a CEO of a company. The increased penalty will apply to the sale or supply of prohibited offensive weapons, including banned zombie-style knives.
A new criminal offence will be introduced, ‘Possessing an offensive weapon with intent for violence’, which means that no matter if a possessed weapon is legal or not, if there’s intent to cause violence then it would be a crime. This will be introduced in the Crime and Policing Bill and come with a prison sentence of up to four years.
The government will also explore a consultation on whether a registration scheme should be implemented for all online retailers later this year.
The new laws will be known as “Ronan’s Law” in honour of Ronan Kanda, who was 16 when he was fatally stabbed in 2022 near his home in Wolverhampton. His killers, also teenagers, illegally bought lethal weapons online with no age or identity verification taking place. One of the killers had bought more than 20 knives online.
“I knew my son didn’t stand a chance.”
Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper said: “It is horrifying how easy it is for young people to get hold of knives online even though children’s lives are being lost, and families and communities are left devastated as a result.
“Not enough has been done to tackle the online market over recent years which is why we made it an urgent priority in our manifesto and the measures today will be underpinned by investment for a new dedicated police unit to go after those who are breaking the law and putting children and teenagers lives at risk.
“We are honouring our commitment to introduce Ronan’s Law in memory of Ronan Kanda who was tragically killed in 2022. I am so grateful to the Kanda family for their endless perseverance in ensuring governments take the right actions to protect young people from further tragedy.
“This government has set an ambitious mission for the country to halve knife crime over the next decade and we will pursue every possible avenue to save young lives.”
Mother of Ronan and campaigner, Pooja Kanda said: “In 2022, I lost my son, Ronan, to knife crime and mistaken identity. In 2023, we sat in the courtroom where we were shown a Ninja sword and 25+ bladed articles. Looking at them, I knew my son didn’t stand a chance.
“Without proper ID checks, the online sale of these bladed articles played a crucial role in this tragedy. How was this allowed? A 16-year-old managed to get these weapons online and sold these weapons to other people.
“I knew we could not go on like this, and our fight for what was right had begun. Proper ID checks by sellers, as well as postal and delivery services, played a crucial role.
“We welcome the government’s plans to tackle the online sale of these weapons. Retailers, social media, and sellers need to take on more responsibilities.
“We welcome the proposal of a registration scheme, where the government will continue to implement stricter measures on the online sale of bladed articles. We have so much work to tackle knife crime; this is a much-needed beginning.
“This part of Ronan’s law will provide much-needed barriers against knife crime. I wish this was done years ago, and my son would be with me today.”
The lives lost to knife crime in Bristol
Together For Change Aims
Set up a task force – We will develop a community-driven task force to meet and discuss the issue, how best to tackle it and how we can make a real difference with those in power.
Getting knives off the street – We will work with the campaigners to raise awareness of initiatives designed to get knives off the streets.
Social media – We will look at the Online Safety Bill and see if it goes far enough where it comes to harmful knife-related content on social media and how easy it is for children to see.
Raise awareness – We will work together to raise the awareness of how knife crime is linked to poverty, education, employment, social exclusion and the collapse in youth services
Lobby the government -We will cover the issue in the context of the General Election, using our findings from the taskforce and our reporting to lobby for change
Hold power to account – We will scrutinise and hold Avon and Somerset Police and Bristol City Council to account on their plans and models to make Bristol safer
Knife crime in Bristol has had a devastating impact since 2023, where Bristol Live reported on an incident involving a knife on average more than once a week. In 2024, at least 10 people were stabbed, including four fatally, and a teenager was stabbed earlier this month in St Pauls. Two teenagers were arrested.
In 2023, Paul Wagland, Adam Ali Ibrahim, Mikey Roynon, Eddie King Muthemba Kinuthia, Isaac Brown and Martin Hefferman all lost their lives to knife crime. In 2024, Mason Rist and Max Dixon were stabbed to death in Knowle West and five people were later found guilty of their murders, Darrian Williams was fatally stabbed by two teenagers in St Jude’s, Aliki Mamwa lost his life in St Pauls.
The Together for Change campaign was established in March 2024 by Bristol Live, the Bristol Post newspaper and other media organisations across the city, who joined forces with community leaders and campaigners to say enough is enough. In the time since, Bristol Live have reported on knife crime on a deeper level to encourage discussion and to make a positive change.
Supporters of the Together for Change campaign had said previous comments made by the Prime Minister to end easy access to dangerous blades was “a start” but did not go far enough. New laws promised in January would force online retailers to use two-factor identification to prove their age.
Supporters, including Reverend Dawnecia Palmer and Leanne Reynolds, both agreed that it was a step in the right direction but that it should have been implemented into law long ago. Reverend Palmer said: “To stop knife crime in our streets, we need to have a law to forbid people from taking a knife out in the first place. It’s simple, that’s the only thing that will stop knife crime,” whilst Leanne Reynolds added: “It’s a start and possibly in the right direction.”
When the Prime Minister visited a diagnostic centre near Bristol earlier this week, he thanked the family of Darrian Williams, who had set up a bleed kit campaign in the aftermath of the teenager’s death. Keir Starmer said: “To the family, I remember profoundly a year ago, being shocked by what had happened and my thoughts were with the family and remain with the family.
“I want to thank them for what they’re doing with these bleed kits, which are hugely important. We are working on this as part of our prevention strategy and we would like to, respectfully, invite them to work with us. We do need to bear down on knife crime.
“The bleed kits are a really important part of that [preventing knife crime] so I just say thank you to the family, our thoughts are with them. As a father, it must be absolutely unbearable [to lose a child] and we will happily work with them.”